Thread: What thicknesser to buy

Originally Posted by Bagmann

Finally had a chance to give the new beast a proper workout, yes there was a bit of oil/grease but it was only a small amount and quickly went away. Seems to be to do with the packaging process. Anyway - touch wood - all going well and am very happy with the finish.

Cheers

Good to hear, sounds like you need to kick off with some sacrificial wood to clean the gunk out before putting the good stuff through......

Well, I finally bit the bullet and picked up the Carbatec CT-330X today (last one in stock in Sydney). Got a bit of organising to do about the workshop but should have it up and running sometime in the next week or so...... 8-)

'Nevyn72, Well, I finally bit the bullet and picked up the Carbatec CT-330X today (last one in stock in Sydney). Got a bit of organising to do about the workshop but should have it up and running sometime in the next week or so.....'

Huh! snap Nevyn72 I bit the bullet too BUT ... I got one off Trademe ... 15" Trupro (they are branded under different names ..Global is another, same machine) .... got a bit of work to get it from Blenheim to Westport (This is NZ of course) and she is a heavy beast 245Kg but I must say I have learnt a bit about thicknessers over the last couple of weeks.

This one does 5,000 rpm and has 3 blades with a 2hp motor bit more than is needed but the price was fine for a little used machine ...nz$1400.

Let you know how we go.....

Barnsey

Well I set up the Carbatec CT-330X today and gave it a quick spin, so the speak......

First thoughts?
- quiter than I expected, it's the motor that makes all the noise, timber going through doesn't make any significant difference
- With my 1hp dustie connected (4" pipe) there's very little stray material left anywhere around the machine.
- It does drop a little oil initially but after a few passes it has mostly disappeared. If you look at the cutter head when new you can actually see the oil/grease on the blades. I'll run some more sacrificial timber through before using any good stuff.....
- with a feed rate of 8m/min the timber really flies through!
- taking 1mm off some pine leaves a beatufully smooth, almost glossy finish, very pleased! 8-)

I'll post some more when I get a bit more serious.

Nevyn72 ..... I can match your experience exactly .... got the Trupro home, quite a day and off loaded thanks to my neighbours Hiab on his truck!!! Some rollers and she was in place. Checked her all over and it seems she has had very little use at all ..new in 2004 according to the label. The dust collector that came with it (single bag) needed the switch attending to (dirty) and thats fine ... the is a bit like a barrage baloon. I was wondering if the thicknesser would start up and run on domestic power but its a 2hp motor and all seems fine. Very quiet and running timber through no appreciable increase in noise .....and the sample went through no problem at all. I am really chuffed ...now for some real work for it trimming up some Rimu to the size I want not what the local yard has for me.

I wont want to sharpen the blades for a wee while but thats the next thing ...

an update on the thicknesser

finally fired it up today, heaps of oil from the feeders, wiped it down after use, not putting anything expensive inside it for now, will report back if it gets better

Originally Posted by kenny12

an update on the thicknesser

finally fired it up today, heaps of oil from the feeders, wiped it down after use, not putting anything expensive inside it for now, will report back if it gets better

Been giving mine (carbatec 330X) a fairly good workout lately.....

Well 2.4m boards, multiple passes @ 1mm each time..... probably 50+ passes so far.....

I started out by runnig some 'scrap' timber through to claer out the worst of the grease.
Reduced a pine panel 300mm x 310mm from about 18mm to 5mm and this seemed to get rid of the worst of it. Only really bad on the first 10 or so passes, the key seems to be be to get some temperature into the cutting head.

I haven't seen any sign of grease on any of the 'good wood' (2.4m boards) since this initial cleanout process so all good so far! 8-)

Very impressed with the results so far, although with the long boards you need to be a bit careful of skipe, even using stands to support the timber... 8-(

Overall, very happy with this unit.

Originally Posted by PaintMan

For general interest I can add that I have just fitted a true "BYRD" made in USA cutter head to my 2 yr old Cabatec CTJ-381 thicknesser and the results in all respects are really amazing. Firstly the quietness of operation has to be seen to be beleived. The original machine could be heard from several hundred metres away especially with the high capacity cyclone DE fitted. Now the running noise is more like a drill press and just a little more noise when cutting with no change in noise with the DE connected. As for the finish on the first run of a few hundred M's of difficult hardwood no snipe and no need to use my wide belt sander. One other point the Grizzly.com website has a 72 page manual for a similar unit to the CJT-381 than can be downloaded as a .PDF file.
Paintman

G'day Paintman,
Can you tell me what the Part/code number is?
Thanks
Rod